Archive for July, 2007

Japan News for July 31, 2007

Japan-related news links for today:

Abe Under Fire: The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will demand Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s resignation over the ruling coalition’s crushing defeat in the House of Councillors election on Sunday. [Link]

Drastic Shuffling: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to make a drastic Cabinet reshuffle in September following the ruling coalition’s crushing defeat in Sunday’s House of Councillors election, ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) officials said Monday. [Link]

Religious Party Leader On Abe: Kazuo Kitagawa, secretary-general of Komeito, the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) coalition partner, suggested on Sunday that voters haven’t rejected LDP policy and there was no need for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to resign, despite the LDP’s crushing defeat in the House of Councillors election. [Link]

Rain Stops Train: Heavy rain pounded Shizuoka Prefecture and surrounding areas on Monday as an area of cold air moved over Japan’s main island of Honshu, bringing record rainfall to the Shizuoka Prefecture city of Shimada and halting bullet train services. [Link]

A-Bomb Victims Win: The Kumamoto District Court on Monday scrapped the government’s rejection of applications by 19 people seeking registration as atomic bomb sickness sufferers, the government’s sixth loss in a series of similar lawsuits. [Link]

Reporting Blunder: Kagoshima Television Station Co. (KTS), a station affiliated with Fuji Television Network, has apologized for mistakenly announcing that Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) candidate Inao Minayoshi was set to win a seat in Sunday’s House of Councillors election. [Link]

Anti-War Novelist Dies: Famous novelist Makoto Oda, who organized a major campaign against the Vietnam War, died of stomach cancer at a hospital in Tokyo on Sunday. [Link]

Skyscrapers Galore: Tokyo has come in at 7th place in ranking of the world’s top 25 cities with skyscrapers published by the German magazine Spiegel. [Link]

America Bound: Defense Minister Yuriko Koike will visit the United States in early August to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. [Link]

Violators: Police had arrested 25 people across the country before the close of voting for the House of Councillors election on Sunday evening in connection with 25 cases of suspected violations of the public election law. [Link]

Net Phone Service: Softbank Corp will start an Internet telephone service using the fiber-optic line networks of other carriers in August. [Link]

Embarassed: Two in five Japanese find their own face embarrassing, according to a recent survey by Cross Marketing Inc. [Link]

Drunken Idiot: A drunk man was arrested on suspicion of pulling an emergency door release handle in a Shinkansen train while it was running through a tunnel in Kobe on Saturday afternoon, forcing the driver to apply the emergency brakes and causing the train to stop for about 10 minutes. [Link]

Some Fun: A Ministry of Justice worker who groped a 23-year-old woman after showing her a 10,000-yen note, saying, “Let’s go and have some fun,” has been arrested. [Link]

Ball-Hugging: Japan’s Defense Ministry has unveiled its new official logo (it’s strange). [Link]

Japanese Architect Unveils Bridge Made Of Paper In Southern France

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban — iconic for his use of eco-friendly, lightweight materials — on Friday lifted the veil on a paper bridge over the Gardon River in southern France.

Built half a mile from the Pont du Gard — a section of ancient Roman bridge classed as a UN World Heritage site — Shigeru’s cardboard-tube structure is strong enough to carry 20 people at a time.

-Full story at Spluch!

The 2007 Asia Cup Japan vs. Korea Soccer Match: Fight Clip

Japanese YouTuber news4vipw has uploaded a few clips of the Japan vs. Korea soccer match that was held on Saturday to determine the third-place team in the 2007 Asia Cup. The Japanese failed to score against the Korean team, which was playing its hardest not to lose to the team of their hated rival. The game eventual went to a PK shoot out, and Korea won.

In a particular heated moment of the match, Korean and Japanese players started scuffling and had to be broken up:

The Yomiuri Shinbun mentions the event in the video, as well as the expulsion of Korea’s coach:

A near full house turned out for a highly charged encounter that featured the expulsion of defender Kang Min Soo, Verbeek and his assistants midway through the second half. Typical of Japan-Korea, tempers flared as Shunsuke Nakamura and Lee Chun Soo were engaged in a shoving match during extra time.

Much like any Japan-Korea video on YouTube, its comment section is filled with idiotic and hateful comments.

Japanese Baby Shocked By Empty Plate!

This Japanese baby really really doesn’t like it when he’s in the middle of a meal and runs out of food:

Qoo Mascot + Fist Of The North Star

An amusing parody of the opening for Fist Of the North Star, with the Qoo Mascot as the main character:

And the original Fist Of The North Star opening:

Informative Election News Links

There was an Upper House election yesterday, and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party got its ass kicked. Here are some links for those of you interested in finding out more:

Election Results:

• Liberal Japan, GlobalTalk 21, and Observing Japan have great summary posts.

Some Winners and Losers in the 2007 Upper House Election:

• Liberal Japan updates on the fate of several high profile candidates (Yes, Fujimori lost).